Cooperation kicks off between European Innovation Partnerships for developing smart and age-friendly communities

On the occasion of the recent Conference of Partners of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Active and Healthy Ageing, AGE proposed the establishment of a temporary working group to foster the collaboration of the partners of the EIP on Active and Healthy Ageing and the partners of the EIP on Smart Cities and Communities*.

The discussion was initiated on 26 February at a side event on smart and age-friendly cities organized by the D4 Action group of the EIP AHA working on age-friendly environments – in which AGE is involved. The event aimed at looking at possible synergies between the two EIPs and showcasing good examples of cooperation. Based on the principle that a city can only be smart if it is age-friendly, the event looked at possible cross-feeding, synergies, and future collaboration.

The discussion was prolonged on 28 February on the occasion of a joint session organized by the Action Groups C2 working on independent living solutions and D4 around “Collaboration topics marketplace: Living environments for ageing well”. The session aimed at presenting six proposals of joint actions and collecting the commitments of EIP AHA partners. All proposals are accessible in the presentation available online.

A guidance package for smart and age-friendly cities

Among the six proposals, AGE proposed the establishment of a temporary working group to foster the collaboration of the partners of the EIP on Active and Healthy Ageing and the partners of the EIP on Smart Cities and Communities. The initial work programme for the group is structured around the following activities:

• Aligning policy agendas of both EIPs and mutual learning
• Developing a Guidance package on integrated planning that take account of citizens’ concerns and preferences
• Elaborating a Roadmap on standardization needs for smart cities that are age-friendly.

You are more than welcome to contribute to these activities. If interested, you are kindly invited to register through this online form. This working group will also build on the conclusions of other initiatives proposed on that day, some of them being led by members of the Covenant on Demographic Change.

This working group will be the opportunity for AGE to further promote its work on age-friendly cities, call for inclusive smart cities, and share the outcomes of the Mobile Age project on open digital public services for older persons, and of the PROGRESSIVE project, which looks at ICT standardisation for active and healthy ageing and age-friendly communities.

For more information on MobileAge:
https://www.age-platform.eu/project/mobile-age or contact Ophélie Durand

For more information on PROGRESSIVE:
https://www.age-platform.eu/project/progressive or contact Estelle Huchet

*The EIP SCC brings together since 2011 all stakeholders interested in improving Europe’s urban life through more sustainable integrated solutions. This includes applied innovation, better planning, a more participatory approach, higher energy efficiency, better transport solutions, intelligent use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), etc. AGE is involved since 2015 in the Citizen Focus’ Action Cluster in order to represent older persons’ wishes and needs when it comes to smart cities.